Brighton officials checking for source of water contamination

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Eighteen homes in a Brighton neighborhood where E. coli bacteria was detected in water samples are being surveyed by city employees working through a checklist of possible contamination sources.

Brighton officials met with some of the residents Friday morning to explain what may happen when city workers visit their homes, according to The Denver Post. The residents were asked to leave their houses Thursday night, when the city shut off water to to isolate the area where they believe the contamination to be.

Brighton’s utilities director Jim Landeck said city workers will check for things including missing backflow devices on garden hoses and swamp coolers.

“It’s your regular household devices that people sometimes just don’t recognize as being a problem,” Landeck said. “Residents make mistakes. It could be that simple.”

After the survey, the isolated portion of the water system will be disinfected, flushed and re-tested. If the samples are sent to the lab Friday night as expected, the city may know by Sunday whether the problem was resolved.

City spokeswoman Kristen Chernosky said Brighton knew of the problem Wednesday morning between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Residents received emergency notification late Wednesday.

Chernosky said notification was slow because it was the first time the city had ever dealt with possible water contamination. “This is the first time for any of us,” she said.

Each month, city tests 30 sites throughout the city. The samples from this month’s water tests were taken Monday and Tuesday, Chernosky said.

A sample from a home near South 27th Avenue and East Southern Street tested positive for the bacteria.

At about 1 p.m. Wednesday, Brighton officials had a conference with state officials who directed them to issue a boil-water advisory.

State officials gave Brighton a list of information that had to be provided to the public. After the city drafted the notice, state officials had to approve it.

On Thursday, the results of retesting in the neighborhood showed a test positive for E. coli from the same home that tested positive on Wednesday, Chernosky said.

Results from a third set of city-wide samples sent to the lab Thursday should be back by Friday evening and are expected to confirm that the contamination is isolated to the 18-home neighborhood in southeast Brighton that has already been isolated.

If the tests confirm that water elsewhere in the system is fine, the state may allow Brighton to lift the boil advisory.

City manager Manuel Esquibel said he speaks to officials at the area hospital three to four times a day and still has not received reports of anyone who may have been sickened from the water.

“The system, the protocols we have are working,” Esquibel said. “We are, again, confident that the water is safe.”

Esquibel said that the problem could have been worse or more widespread if it weren’t for the process.

“The dilemma we have now is that it is an inconvenience for a lot, a lot of people,” Esquibel said. “It can happen anywhere.”